Cong banks on old guard, youth can wait

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 14

There was a stark difference between the frames of rank unity Congress president Rahul Gandhi posted on Madhya Pradesh and the one he posted on Rajasthan today.

While MP leaders Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia stood hand in hand with Gandhi while posing for the picture last night, Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot and his competitor Ashok Gehlot posed with their arms closed, signalling tension.

The frame on Gandhi’s Twitter timeline may have been captioned “United Colours of Rajasthan” but its message wasn’t lost on anyone.

With Gandhi banking on the old guard to serve as CMs in both Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the restive Congress youth are bound to feel agitated. But if party seniors are to be believed, there was never any doubt about veterans getting the key posts.

A top source said the decision to make 72-year-old Kamal Nath the CM of MP and 67-year-old Gehlot the CM of Rajasthan was evident from day one. Pacification of the ambitious younger lot delayed the announcements.

A major factor that worked in favour of the veterans was the strong backing of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi who advised her son Rahul through the tough negotiation process.

There was a thinking in the party from the time it won Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh that experienced hands will have to run these states which send 65 MPs to the Lok Sabha. At present, 59 of these 65 MPs belong to the BJP and the Congress faces an uphill task of upsetting saffron calculations. Much of Congress’ performance in 2019 Lok Sabha elections will depend on its governance record in the three states where the party has made lofty manifesto promises.

These include farm loan waivers within 10 days of government formation and even Rs 10,000 unemployment stipend for the youth in MP.

With AICC coffers nearly dry, the party would need organisational wizards like Nath and Gehlot to raise financial resources needed to deliver governance.

Nath, a nine-time MP from Chhindwara and Gehlot, a former two-time CM, a former five-time MP, a former Cabinet minister and a former state party chief, have ample political and organisational skills to boost Congress’ arsenal ahead of the next General Election.

Veterans would also be needed to keep Independent MLAs in control and to engage potential allies considering the Congress didn’t win a majority on its own either in Rajasthan or MP. In MP, it had to take the support of the BSP and SP and in Rajasthan it had to look towards Independents.

With the task for new Congress CMs cut out, Congress insiders say Pilot and Scindia never had a chance at the hot seats. Pilot, 41, is a first-time MLA while Scindia’s area of influence in MP is limited to Guna.

Within state organisations too, Gehlot and Nath have greater acceptability with seniors and majority MLAs backing the two over the younger leaders. In MP, for instance, Nath had the support of former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh from the start. Scindia had infamously quarrelled with Singh on the eve of state polls while discussing candidates in an internal party meeting.

Party sources also say more than caste equations, which too favoured the old guard for CM jobs, it was their political indispensability at this point in time which did the trick.